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The Doctor and Steven,
in Paris on the eve of a massacre.
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4 episodes: War of God, The Sea Beggar, Priest of Death, Bell of Doom. Running Time: Approx. 99 minutes. Written by: John Lucarotti, Donald Tosh. Directed by: Paddy Russell. Produced by: John Wiles.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor and Steven find themselves in Paris, in the year 1572 - much to the Doctor's delight, as it gives him an opportunity to see scientist Charles Preslin (Erik Chitty). After securing Steven's agreement to avoid any interference, the Doctor agrees to meet up at a nearby tavern that evening.
The Doctor never shows, and while waiting for his return Steven befriends Nicholas Muss (David Weston). Nicholas is a Huguenot (Protestant), who is in the service of Admiral de Coligny (Leonard Sachs), a friend and advisor to Charles IX (Barry Justice), France's weak-willed king. Nicholas tells Steven of recent and growing unrest between France's Catholic majority and the Huguenots, the Protestant minority.
Steven is about to be on his way when he intercepts Anne (Annette Robertson), a servant girl fleeing from guards working for the Abbot of Amboise, who is known to despise all Protestants. Anne tells Steven and Nicholas that she overheard the guards talking about a massacre of Huguenots in Paris. They agree to hide Anne with Admiral de Coligny.
The next day, they observe as the Abbot himself comes to de Coligny's residence searching for Anne. Steven is shocked at the man's appearance - The despised abbot, come to Paris to oversee the final stage of this sinister plan? It's the Doctor!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: Well aware of Steven's impulsive nature, the Doctor seems ready to pass up the meeting with Preslin and return to the TARDIS rather than leave his young friend unaccompanied in the past; Steven has to reassure him that he won't get into trouble. When he reunites with Steven in Episode Four, he is decisive, even ruthless in removing Steven from his entanglements and departing before the inevitable massacre engulfs the city. As they leave Paris behind, he reflects on this "terrible page of the past" and on his refusal to do anything to interfere with it:
"History sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're all too small to realize its final pattern. Therefore, don't try and judge it from where you stand."
Abbot of Amboise: The middle episodes still feature William Hartnell, but in the guise of the hated Abbot. This makes The Massacre an excellent story to showcase Hartnell's range, as his performance as the Abbot is entirely different than as the Doctor. There is no trace of warmth in the Abbot's voice, nor of the Doctor's customary befuddlement. His line deliveries are crisp and cold as a winter's frost. I strongly suspect that, if Episode Three were ever found, there would also be a strong difference in the nonverbal performance as well.
Steven: Predictably, after promising the Doctor he won't get involved in anything, he lands himself right in the thick of it. He could disentangle himself fairly easily; all he really has to do is thank Nicholas for his hospitality and hang around either the tavern or the TARDIS until the Doctor eventually shows up. But he's both too headstrong and too decent. When he overhears plots at the Abbot's house, he can't help but go to Nicholas to try to reveal all, can't help but try to prevent a historically-decreed assassination attempt, can't help but try to save lives. When the Doctor pulls him back to the TARDIS, only to reveal that practically everyone Steven has met will die, he is so outraged that he almost leaves the Doctor on the spot: "If your researches have so little regard for human life then I want no part of it!"
Dodo: The very end of the story sees the introduction of new companion Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet (Jackie Lane). It's a rushed introduction, consisting almost entirely of exposition: Dodo is an orphan, in the care of a relative who doesn't care about her. She is entirely unfazed at the TARDIS' interior dimensions, to all appearances not even noticing them, and has a completely blase reaction when Steven and the Doctor inform her they are traveling in time and space. It's an unpromising start for a new regular, tied into the main story through a vague (and paper-thin) implication that she's a descendant of the French servant girl Steven tried to help. Coming on the heels of a wonderful scene between the Doctor and Steven, it's a jarring closer - Though ending on a light note may have seemed a necessity, given the relentlessly dark tone preceding it.
THOUGHTS:
No one seems 100% certain which is the correct title for this serial: The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve or simply The Massacre. Even the BBC audio release is uncertain, the outer case giving the shorter title, while the actual discs are labeled with the longer title, which is also used by narrator Peter Purves. Perhaps that's appropriate, as this is possibly the most missing of missing Doctor Who stories: No surviving episodes, no surviving clips, and only a handful of publicity stills to represent the visual look fo the story. Thankfully, the audio makes up for it, being one of the clearest of all missing episode recordings - Clearer than the soundtracks of some of the existing ones!
Given the clarity of the audio (and the excellence of the Loose Cannon reconstruction, one of the group's very best), I'd have to say that this isn't a bad story to have missing. It's not a particularly visual tale. The story is entirely dialogue-driven. Essentially a conspiracy thriller, there are many scenes of characters plotting in (presumably darkened) rooms, discussing plans, overhearing other plans, sharing those plans with others - And as such, you actually don't need the visual element to follow it.
For something considered a children's show, this Doctor Who script is startlingly adult. The story turns on religious intolerance, class differences, and the manipulation of a weak ruler by stronger personalities. Even the science fiction element of time travel is treated with maturity, the Doctor's musings about the nature of history feeling suited to part of an argument in a philosophy class.
It's uncertain how much credit goes to John Lucarotti, who previously penned the first season's Marco Polo and The Aztecs, and how much goes to script editor Donald Tosh, who heavily rewrote Lucarotti's scripts. Known changes include the removal of a subplot in which the Doctor actually does impersonate the Abbot... Something which, while probably amusing, would in my opinion have been an unncecessary distraction from this grimly effective tale, one in which a feeling of horrible inevitability hangs over all the events we witness. Lucarotti was displeased, and reinstated many of his original ideas when he later novelized the story - But I strongly suspect Tosh's changes were for the better.
In many respects, this can be considered the last true Hartnell historical. There are a few additional stories set in history, but this is the last one that is about historical events. I'll say more when I review them, but The Gunfighters is a western comedy pastische, The Smugglers a Robert Louis Stevenson-style adventure story. So if The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve is the final "proper" historical, then I'd have to say the show saved its best for last.
Rating: 10/10.
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